This play has been translated into English from the Russian original. Are there any expressions or ways of speaking that strike you as more Russian than English? For example, would an adult man be addressed by an older man as my darling or my treasure in an English play?

Read through the play carefully, and find expressions that you think are not used in contemporary English, and contrast these with idiomatic modern English expressions that also occur in the play.

Read the following passages carefully and answer the questions that follow.
 At length, Kisa Gotami met a man who replied to her request : “I cannot give thee medicine for thy child, but I know a physician who can.” And the girl said: “Pray tell me, sir; who is it ?” And the man replied, “Go to Salyamuni, the Buddha.”

1. What was the cause for Kisa’s suffering?
2. What did she do after her only son died?
3. Pick out a phrase from the passage which means the same as ‘finally’.

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.
The Buddha answered : “I want a handful of mustard-seed.” And when the girl in her joy promised to procure it, the Buddha added : “The mustard-seed must be taken from a house where no one has lost a child, husband, parent or friend.”

1. What did Buddha ask for and why?
2. Why was the girl happy when she heard the demand made by the lord?
3. Give the meaning of the word ‘procure’.

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.
Kisa Gotami became weary and hopeless and sat down at the wayside watching the lights of the city, as they flickered up and were extinguished again. At last the darkness of the night reigned everywhere. And she considered the fate of men, that their lives flicker up and are extinguished again. And she thought to herself: “How selfish am I in my grief. Death is common to all; yet in this valley of desolation there is a path that leads him to immortality who has surrendered all selfishness.”

1. Why did Kisa become weary and hopeless?
2. What did she do at the end of the day?
3. Give the meaning of the word ‘desolation’.

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
The Buddha said: “The life of mortals in this world is troubled and brief and combined with pain. For there is not any means by which those that have been born can avoid dying; after reaching old age there is death; of such a nature are living beings. As ripe fruits are early in danger of falling so mortals when born are always in danger of death.

1.  What according to Buddha is the nature of human life on this earth?
2.  Can the humans escape death?
3.  Give the meaning of the word ‘avoid’.

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.
“Of those who, overcome by death, depart from life, a father cannot save his son, nor kinsmen their relations. Mark! while relatives are looking on and lamenting deeply, one by one mortals are carried off, like an ox that is led to the slaughter.

1. Can a father or a kinsman stop the death of any human?
2. How are the humans carried off?
3. How are the humans carried off?

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
So the world is afflicted with death and decay, therefore the wise do not grieve, knowing the terms of the world. “Not from weeping nor from grieving will anyone obtain peace of mind; on the contrary, his pain will be the greater and his body will suffer. He will make himself sick and pale, yet the dead are not saved by his lamentation.

1. Why do wise people do not grieve when there is a death?
2. Can our weeping or grieving have any benefit?
3. Given the meaning of the word ‘lamentation’.



 

Kisa Gotami again goes from house to house after she speaks with the Buddha. What does she ask for, the second time around? Does she get it? Why not?

How do you usually understand the idea of ‘selfishness’? Do you agree with Kisa Gotami that she was being ‘selfish in her grief ’?

Describe the early life of Siddhartha Gautama.

What moved Siddhartha? Why?